86 PJ; A lightweight E-type

Penny Griffith grew up around racing cars and, at just 18 months of age, was pushed around the paddock in a car that Stirling Moss was racing. Her father Guy Griffith was a great friend of the Moss family. As Penny reached driving age, Guy just announced “Let’s go racing.” So he bought himself a C-type Jaguar and Penny a Healey Silverstone, a standard car with the lovely riley engine. The Healey Silverstone was later replaced by another, this time Jaguar–powered. This was truly great fun for Penny and it enhanced her love more for the Jaguar cars.
In fact, in late 1966 her Guy Griffith decided to give an E-type as Christmas present to her daughter; he approached John Harper and a deal was done. With an XK 150 as part exchange, along with an £ 150 deposit, there was a further £ 1,000 to pay. Peter was the owner of this car and had an incredible amount of fun club circles with his 86 PJ, a lightweight E-type but decided to move on and sold his car to Guy Griffith through car dealer-come-racer John Harper. Penny Griffith had her Christmas present and as any red-blooded girl should; she skipped The Sound of Music and went driving instead.
She also took part in professional racing and also proved to be a good driver. The Pomeroy Trophy used to be the season opener, and it was a great event that featured all sort of cars right back to superb vintage machines. Penny chose the 1967 event as her first with 86 PJ and thoroughly enjoyed it too.
Later, the classic hills of Prescott and Shelsley Walsh were attacked with gusto, where she met with the usual seasoned Jaguar campaigners, like Mike Dale, against who she gave good account of herself. With her father Guy Griffith’s backing and encouragement, Penny campaigned regularly with many highs and lows.
She got married with Roger Woodley who was working in competition department and continued racing but in 1968, the E-type was being used less frequently. Actually, a new business venture and a family added their own pressures. So 86 PJ was began a period of relative inactivity, resting amongst the not inconsiderable collection that Guy Griffith had put together. Occasionally, the car would make a guest appearance, like at the British Grand Prix where Penny escorted Pedro Rodriguez in pre-race driver’s parade.
Her husband Roger Woodley died in 1955 from cancer and Penny got married again with Jim Graham. Together with her new husband Penny put great amount of effort into fledgling Group C series. Later, she sold her 86 PJ to Paul Michaels who expressed an interest in buying her lightweight E-type Jaguar. Of course, thought of selling the car led to some difficult decision making for Penny. However, she agreed to sale her 86 PJ to Paul Michaels. Probably that decision was made due to having her commitment to Group C in mind. 
Paul had already planned to restore that lovely E-type, Crosthwaite and Gardiner took charge of the aluminium engine, while NAR managed a skilled repair of aluminium radiator. Eagle E-types also played an immense role in the whole restoration process. After all of their efforts the ghost had come back to haunt again. Famous drivers; John Watson and Roy Salvadori also drove the lovely 86 PJ and always admired that lightweight E-type as a heavy hitter.  

A car that changed motoring history

In 1948, London Motor Show Jaguar launched XK120, a car that was superb from every viewpoint: a roadster body more striking than anything that Jaguar had manufactured before; a very robust chassis and surprisingly new engine that made it so enviable. Many people thought that Sir William Lyons is going to take a great chance by introducing world's first mass-production twin overhead camshaft engine with hemispherical combustion chambers. In fact, nobody knew that Jaguar is going to produce something really astonishing. The great XK120 really showed its worth in terms of speed, by winning the various rallies and by becoming the fastest standard production car internationally.

In the beginning, XK120 had an aluminum two-seater roadster body on ash frame, as Lyons did not plan to start production for many of these cars, because he already planned to start production of the Mark V and the preparation of Mark VII. But when XK120 gave 213.4 km/h (132.6 mph) with great performance in the test drive, it also became the part of the production plan. 

THE JAGUAR XK120 AT JABBEKE IN 1949

Veritably, Sir William Lyons made that right decision at the right time, because XK120 helped him a lot to hit the highest point of achievement and contributed so much in the Glory Years of Jaguar. Even In 1950s, the design and dimensions of XK120 became inspiration for the other car manufacturers, so they studied and followed in their own models. (In Corvette sports car design Chevrolet engineers caught inspired by XK120 as they chosen long nose-short tail design and also102-inch wheelbase. Ford Motor Company also used dimensions of Jaguar XK120 in their two-seater Thunderbird in the early fifties). Undoubtedly, XK120 performed many wonders in past and that’s probably the reason that it’s still ruling over the hearts of millions.  

XJ40; A tremendous Jaguar

No matter how XJ40 is perceived, it’s still a marvelous car to drive; even in poor state it always feels serene. I think that XJ40 is probably a Jaguar to suit all tastes and pockets. Although there are still some very poor examples that can be seen on roads, however on the other hand we can see some very nice cars too. Anyways let’s take a brief look on its history and then gradually move on for the topic.

October 1986

2.9and 3.6 litre introduced.

Standard and Sovereign Spec.

October 1988 – September 1989

3.6 litre XJR available

4.0 – Replaces 3.6 litre

September 1990

3.2 – Replaces 2.9 litre

1993

XJ12 Sovereign finally available

1994

Production of all XJ40 models ends.

Specifications

           

Model	Year	Engine Capacity	Max Power	Top Speed	0 to 60 mph seconds
2.9	1986 - 90	2,919 cc	165 bhp	117 mph	9.6(Manual) 10.8(Auto)
3.6	1986 - 89	3590 cc	221 bhp	136mph	7.6(Manual) 8.8(Auto)
3.2	1990 - 94	3239 cc	200 bhp	132 mph	8.5(Manual) 9.5(Auto)
4.0	1989 - 94	3980 cc	235 bhp	140 mph	7.4(Manual) 8.1(Auto)

XJ40 was not initially designed for the V12 engines because Jaguar’s plan was probably to deliver something to its customers by shortening their expense figure, even in fuel. You can buy an XJ40 in very reasonable price and if you selected 6 cylinder engines that were initially designed for XJ40, then you’re going to save good fuel money in future.

Mechanically speaking, 6 cylinder engines are robust and almost trouble free if dealt with care and love. Piston breaking problem across the edge of the crown were also reduced by the Jaguar engineers. In fact, all the problems that people faced in the starting models of XJ40 were fixed many years ago by the Jaguar. Actually, when XJ40 first went on sale, it wasn’t ready for this world. History showed that those early customers played an unwitting role in Jaguar XJ40’s development. But there were rare instances of head gas-kit failure even in early models. Let me add that many problems were eliminated with the introduction of 4.0-litre models in1989.

Today, the big problems are with the electrical circuits of the XJ40. Its warning indications were so innovative and aesthetically pleasing in past days, but today they can become the cause of great exasperation. One warning light tells if a bulb fails, another warns of faulty ABS, but seriously they can all lie. By you can identify the fault easily on its circuit board and then can solve it by soldering a bridging wire to connect right circuits together.  

It is absolutely fair to say that the XJ40 is not a Jaguar that has had the best fortunes during its lifetime as far as reputation amongst the buying public goes. I mean problem with the early cars which were abolished with the introduction of the 4.0 – litre models in 1989. But it shouldn’t be forgotten that fundamentally XJ40 was an exceptionally good car, and one that – when it worked properly – represented a huge leap forward over the outgoing Series 3 XJ6.